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November 3, 2011

tree of light

At first, I wanted to string these white lights around my room for some extra light. Then I got to thinking. I have become pretty obsessed with the string art I've been eying lately, even though I've yet to attempt this craft specifically, I decided to try the same idea with a strand of lights. Looks pretty bad ass if you ask me. Even if the one branch looks kinda funky...

I suggest drawing it out or, hell, maybe thinking about what you want the finished product to look like. I just started nailing shit into my wall and hoped for the best as I went along. Whatever works best for you. I have odd strokes of luck sometimes.

I want to try some sort of sun and rays in the opposite corner of my room. It's best not to begin that now though. The dude I share a wall with probably wouldn't like the hammering. Again.

Let's get started, folks.

You'll need:

• Tunes. I suggest: Blood Diamonds
• A strand of white lights (I used one strand of a 45 ft 350 mini lights set from Target)
• A box of clear pins (I used 46, but it will vary)
• Hammer
• Pencil with eraser
• Piece of duct tape
• Chair/stool

Get to work:
1. Find a spot on your wall that is near an outlet **this is crucial, kids
2. With a pencil, make a "connect the dots" tree on your wall. This is where you will stick the pins, so you don't need a dot every inch, spread them out.
3. Tape the pronged end of your lights to the outlet. This will ensure enough length to plug it in when you're done, so make sure you do this!
4. Place pins on the pencil dots you made to outline the tree.
5. Begin with the trunk and string the lights around all of your pins. Go in one direction until you meet the base of the trunk again. I split the "twist" in the lights wire to secure the strand to each pin.

6. Hide the other end of the strand behind the other lights.

Suggestions:

• I made some knots in my tree by making a loop on the inside of the trunk on my way around the tree.

• I plan to add some hand-made fairies or birds to make it look more mystical

• I didn't want to have to deal with the top of the tree, so I just let it bleed into my ceiling

Hopefully these instructions are clear enough, let me know if you have questions!

EDIT

Added some fairy/butterfly wings to make it a little more enchanting. I'm really into turning my room into a mystical place right about now. I have these old books with pictures of places around the world and in space, so I just took some clippings and cut out the wings by folding the paper in half for symmetry (like second grade crafts).